A True Hero
by Darthlane
Summary: A spirit ponders the life of a man who was a much bigger hero than anyone realized. One shot. I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
**For Round 3 of the Pro Bending Circuit**

 **Words: 1847**

 **Prompts: laughing, tree, no dialogue**

 **Dear judge, I know I'm kind of bending the rules with the multiple life moments and it not being from the main character's POV, but I checked with _ and she said she would allow it. (check the Q &A if you want to make sure)**

 **Thanks for reading!**

A True Hero

Jiyi sighed as she floated through the air, making the very sky of the Spirit World tremble. She was a very renowned and powerful spirit, known as the Spirit of Memory. She was the sister of Jihui, the Spirit of Opportunity. Many considered her among the wisest and most knowledgeable of all spirits, and many beings often came to her looking for advice for their petty problems. But she didn't have the patience, ironically, to deal with them, so she often had to pick herself up and fly away to somewhere else in the Spirit World to continue her work of remembering everything. She saw a patch of upside-down trees, and she decided that this would be a good place to stop for now.

She was a relatively small spirit, and looked much like a bird. She was mostly a vibrant sapphire blue, but had an emerald green streak that went down her back. Many other spirits had called her beautiful, but Jiyi cared little for her appearance. It was only what she could contain within her mind that mattered.

She settled down among the leaves of the trees, which were on the ground instead of above, while the roots brought a small amount of shade to cover her head. She sniffed, irritated. Whose idea was this? Some of the spirits nowadays were just plain idiotic, creating anything and everything to represent. Being the spirit of upside-down trees was almost shameful. Jiyi was glad that at least spirits her own age had more sense, being spirits of dutiful things such as Memory and Opportunity and various emotions. Much better than what these newer, childish spirits represented.

She set herself to work, opening a shimmering portal in the air in front of her. Millions of memories flashed before her in the reflective portal, showing images of times long forgotten to all but Jiyi. Many things that were thought to be inconsequential but actually had a resounding effect on everything that came after. But what would she remember for now?

Hm? What was this? A man had died today, a man more important than he seemed. Often laughed at for the way he was, and greatly underappreciated because of it.

The hazy portal shimmered, then settled upon a single memory, an important moment in this man's life. In fact, it was the first. In the image a woman lay on a small sleeping bag on the ground, a couple of women and one terrified man crowding around her. She was screaming, but the screams were unheard by Jiyi. She watched as the woman screamed and screamed silently, while the other two women argued with one another, pointing at the screaming woman on the ground. Several more minutes passed of this until finally the baby emerged, crying much like his mother had been a few moments ago. Jiyi couldn't hear it, but she could tell by the reactions of the others that the child had a strong pair of lungs on him. A tough child, she reflected.

The surface shimmered again, being replaced by the image of a small kid being pushed around by much older children. The lead kid's mouth moved, saying something to the smaller child. The others laughed, and the bully sneered as his cronies added their own insults to the kid. But the small kid, laughed back, his head held high. He picked up a rock and tossed it lightly into the air, saying something. Suddenly all the kids burst into uproarious laughter at whatever the smallest kid had said. The kid smiled, proud. He had taken his bullies and turned them into friends, just by being entertaining. Jiyi was impressed. The kid was smart enough to understand that words often made better weapons for dealing with enemies than fists.

The portal shimmered again, showing a different scene. The boy, now a little older, was alone in a patch of woodland. He was punching a tree, over and over again. He was training hard, becoming stronger bit by bit. All of a sudden he fell to his knees. Jiyi could tell that the boy was sobbing. He let out a silent yell, punching the ground. And amazingly, the ground gave way easily. The boy, shocked, scrambled to his feet. He examined what he had done to the ground, then carefully pressed down with his foot. Nothing happened. The boy took a deep breath, then struck down with his foot. This time the ground gave way again. The kid laughed, trying again and again. He was ecstatic, having discovered that he was a bender.

The image shimmered again, and suddenly there was a young man walking down the streets of some city. He was tall, well-muscled, and had the beginnings of a beard on his face. He stopped and turned toward an alley, at some noise that Jiyi couldn't hear. He walked and found a small girl, who appeared to be sobbing. She was small and covered in dirt and grime, and it looked like she hadn't eaten in quite some time. He said something, and she looked up at him, tears in her eyes. They exchanged words, and the man looked more crestfallen with each sentence. He thought for a moment about what the girl had said to him, then appeared to have an idea. He used his bending to lift a small rock into his hand. The girl's crying stopped momentarily, her eyes fixated on the rock. He smiled broadly, making the rock suddenly go flat like a disk, then become long like a stick. The girl giggled, so the man continued the show. He made it split into three smaller rocks, then juggled them. After a moment he added another rock, sparking the girl's new excitement at his tricks. He added another, then another, and even more until he had a full score of small rocks flying through the air around him. He suddenly stopped them, then let them all fall to the ground, bowing as he did so. The girl laughed and clapped her hands a few times. He smiled at her, and held out a hand. She took it and he helped her off the ground. He said a few words and led her out of the alley.

The portal changed to show another scene. The same young man was standing in a huge arena surrounded by lots of people. He was older now, and his beard had grown in full. Also, less noticeably, Jiyi could see that there was a fire in his eyes. She also noticed a couple of things interesting in the crowd. The girl from the last memory was in the crowd as well, a few years older and cleaned up. She was one of the most enthusiastic fans of this man, as he flexed and put on a show for the crowd. But even more interestingly, three individuals were hidden among all the others that would have a huge impact on the fate of the world. One of course was the Avatar, searching for an Earthbending master. His two friends of the Watertribe were there as well. They were considering the man who Jiyi was observing, but she knew quite well that he was not destined to teach the Avatar. But, he would be the one to lead the Avatar to his true teacher. Without him, who knows how the world might have turned out? But that was a question better answered by Jiyi's sister spirit.

The memory moved away, making room for another. The man looked much the same, so not much time must have passed. A few months at most. The man was talking with a small group of other men, who Jiyi knew to be from the competition that the man had been in within the last memory. He seemed to be trying to convince them of something, desperately pleading with them. After a few moments of talking one of the others said something, and walked over to join the man where he was standing. This other man was the largest of the group by far, making even the man who had been pleading, who was quite large himself, look tiny. Quickly the others joined in, making the first man relieved. The fire in his eyes had grown even larger, Jiyi noticed. He had found something to live for. He said something to the others, and they all let out some unheard chant. The man walked away, finding the girl from before. He said some things to her, and she started arguing with him. He fell to his knees, still almost being taller to her, and hugged the girl, tears in his eyes. He said something in her ear, something that Jiyi wouldn't have been able to hear even if she could hear the memories. She gasped, and he got up and walked away, waving. She cried as he left her, hoping he would return.

The memory changed again, leading showing the man in a huge crowd of people. Above the crowd stood the Avatar and the Firelord, giving some sort of speech. The man cheered with the rest, happy at the victory the group had achieved. After the two important figures had finished their speech the man fought his way through the cheerful crowd, eventually finding the girl. He hugged her tight, saying something. She said something back, returning the hug with a smile on her face. Then the memory ended.

A new memory took its place, showing the man lying in a bed. He was quite old now, with gray in her hair. Two women stood over his bed, both old but not as old as him. One was the girl from before, now aged. The other woman wore a blue parka. Jiyi realized that this must be today. So now the man was dying, now dead. He said some things weakly to the woman he had taken care of as a kid, who was practically his own child. She cried, holding his hands as his life slipped away. He flashed one last, happy smile and then passed. The woman in the blue parka hugged the other woman as she cried, trying her best to comfort her. Then the memory fizzled away, and none replaced it.

Jiyi considered what she had seen for a moment. He had worked hard for what had, honing his skills and trying hard to make his life and the lives of people he cared about better. He had taken in an orphaned child and raised her as his own. He had led the Avatar to his teacher. And he had become a leader of a revolution to stop tyranny over his land. There was no doubt that this was a truly great man.

But was he a hero?

Jiyi remembered the girl, and how he had helped her. How many great men could do that? Take a broken life and commit their own to fixing it?

Yes. The man was definitely a hero. A hero like none before or after. He was The Boulder.


End file.
